Week in Review: Sochi, Taxes, and Linkedin

Carried interest may no longer be the biggest source of tax concern for private equity professionals. According to a NYTimes article earlier this week, one academic is claiming that monitoring fees are “being improperly characterized for tax purposes” as business expenses instead of dividends.

In other news, the Sochi Winter Olympics started today — and the conditions have been underwhelming for journalists and athletes alike.

Opinions:

• Mutual fund opens doors to private equity
• Busy IPO week — but uncertainty may linger
• 2014 looks like a year for big mergers in defense services
• PE deal flow in for a slow year
• Africa PE deals reach five-year high of $1.6 billion
• Do women in private equity need male mentors?
• The cost of investing in alternative assets is slowly falling
• PE firms tap fresh vein of cash

Transactions:

• Longroad Asset Management buys Blue Bell Mattress
• Linkedin buys Bright for $120 million
• Streamline Health completes acquisition of Unibased Systems Architecture
• Mind Solutions enters discussions to be acquired
• OpenTable acquires Ness
• The Riverside Company acquires Be Green Packaging
• Envision Pharma acquires ProScribe
• Novra Technologies acquires Wegener Corporation
• Kinderhook acquires GlobalHealth
• Belden to acquire Grass Valley for $220 million
• First American buys Interthinx for $155 million

Member Spotlight

Squire Ridge Company, a Cleveland-based investment firm, and Isleworth Capital Partners and Omni Investors Group, two Chicago-based private equity firms, have partnered with the Claerbout family in the recapitalization of Dutchland Plastics Corporation (www.dutchlandplastics.com), one of the leading rotational molders in the country. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

Squire Ridge Company, LLC is a private holding company that invests in micro-cap market niche manufacturing, value added distribution and select service companies located in the Midwest for long-term ownership.

Photo credit: Paolo Bona / Shutterstock.com